Qiong Wang¹ , Jinni Wu²

1 Center for Tropical Marine Fisheries Research, Hainan Institute of Tropical Agricultural Resouces, Sanya, 572025,Hainan, China
2 Aquatic Biology Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2025, Vol. 15, No. 2   
Received: 22 Feb., 2025    Accepted: 18 Mar., 2025    Published: 31 Mar., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The genus Scomberomorus spp. is a marine fish group with outstanding economic and ecological value, widely distributed in tropical and temperate shallow sea waters around the world. This study combines recent research results of molecular phylogenetics, paleo-oceanology and ecology, explores the phylogenetic origin and global diffusion path of mackerel, summarizes its ecological adaptation mechanism to the environment, and analyzes the fishery development status and management challenges. Phylogenetic, molecular evidence shows that the genus Mackerel contains about 18 effective species, originating from the shallow sea areas of the paleotropics, and then spread to oceans around the globe through currents and geographical channels. Quaternary climate fluctuations and sea level changes shape the historical distribution pattern of mackerels: sea level rise after the last ice age promoted population expansion and gene exchange. Spanish mackerel has evolved its physiological properties of temperature and salt resistance, efficient predation and swimming ability, and reproductive strategies that adapt to different environments to cope with the changing marine environment. At present, mackerel has a clear geographical distribution pattern around the world, and human activities have also led to the secondary spread of a few populations. Genetic studies show that gene exchanges frequently between populations in the mackerel area and high overall genetic diversity, but there are differences in population structures in different sea areas. Global climate change has exacerbated uncertainty in the marine environment, and seawater warming and acidification may affect the migration behavior and survival of mackerels. In the future, cross-regional collaborative management based on ecological and genetic research needs to be strengthened, and sustainable fishery quotas and habitat protection measures are implemented to ensure the long-term use of mackerel resources and ecological security.

Spanish mackerel; Phylogenetic; Diffusion; Ecological adaptation; Fishery management; Climate change